{"id":33657,"date":"2017-08-27T12:42:33","date_gmt":"2017-08-27T19:42:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/?p=33657"},"modified":"2017-02-03T03:18:44","modified_gmt":"2017-02-03T11:18:44","slug":"dont-stare-at-medusa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/2017\/08\/27\/dont-stare-at-medusa\/","title":{"rendered":"Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t Stare at Medusa"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"eric-kim-street-photography-kodak-tri-x-1600-1095\"
Marseille, 2015 #cindyproject<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Medusa\u00e2\u20ac\u201d you look at it, and it turns you into stone.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

What is Medusa in today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s world?<\/h2>\n

What is medusa in today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s world?<\/p>\n

Medusa is being tempted by luxury, fancy cars, money, power, fame, influence, big homes, fancy vacations, and a high-class lifestyle.<\/p>\n

Medusa is beautiful on the outside. But once you look into its eyes, you become stone and die.<\/p>\n

Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be fooled by that which glitters<\/h2>\n

\n What glitters on the outside, isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t always beautiful inside.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been suckered by so many things which I thought were desirable. But once I got them, they weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t as great as I thought they were.<\/p>\n

I always thought that if I owned a Leica, I would be happy for the rest of my life. Once I got it (and lost a ton of money); I found out that wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t true.<\/p>\n

I thought that by getting a Prius, I would be so much happier in terms of the gas mileage, the cargo space, and the design. Once I got one, I got used to it after 2 weeks, and it just became any other car.<\/p>\n

I thought that by traveling, I would become \u00e2\u20ac\u02dccultured\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, more creative, and happier. When I started to travel extensively, I found out that it didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t solve any of my problems\u00e2\u20ac\u201d I was just escaping from myself.<\/p>\n

Money is (one of the) Medusas in the world<\/h2>\n

\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t stare at money too long \/ its Medusa.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d – Kanye West\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We need to be careful at what we stare at too long. Because whatever we stare at too long, we become infatuated. And then we create this false reality, and stay inside our heads too much.<\/p>\n

When we think too much about money, and fantasize about what it will do for us \u00e2\u20ac\u201d this weakens us. It poisons our thinking. We think more about money for money\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sake, rather than doing meaningful work that will empower us and others.<\/p>\n

There are other \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Medusa\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in life \u00e2\u20ac\u201d which are disguised. Your Medusa can be drugs, alcohol, sex, pride, ego, envy, jealousy, or any other negative emotions or feelings. But realize that Medusa can be conquered\u00e2\u20ac\u201d only by shielding our eyes, and cutting off its head.<\/p>\n

Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be blinded<\/h2>\n

Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t turn into stone. Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be fooled by that what glitters. What is beautiful on the outside is usually ugly within (and vice-versa).<\/p>\n

Everyone\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Medusa\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is different. For me, Medusa is self-righteous anger, envy of the success of others, and the lust for always having \u00e2\u20ac\u0153more.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I often see my ambition as a Medusa, which drives me to betray my ideals and morals.<\/p>\n

It is easy to be blinded by Medusa. But you can best prevent being turned into stone, by recognizing what your Medusa is, and trying to cut off its head. And certainly by not<\/em> looking into Medusa\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s eyes.<\/p>\n

Be strong and always strive to see the light,
\nEric<\/p>\n

Learn more: Philosophy ><\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Medusa\u00e2\u20ac\u201d you look at it, and it turns you into stone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33674,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-posts"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/eric-kim-street-photography-kodak-tri-x-1600-1095.jpg?fit=1545%2C1024&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33657"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33657\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}